Matt McKinney

As a roaming reporter for the Star Tribune, my assignments come from all across the region, from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester to the Bois Forte Band in Tower, from the farm country Amish to up North fishermen. Special areas of interest include but are not limited to business fraud, sand mining, the Mayo Clinic's multi-billion-dollar expansion known as Destination Medical Center, crime, shoreline development and outstate news. Send tips and story ideas to me at mckinney@startribune.com

Travel is discouraged as snow falling at 1 to 2 inches per hour and 50-mph wind gusts created whiteout conditions. With 10-plus inches at the airport, flights were grounded until late Saturday. More snow is to come, so Sunday events are getting called off.

A Department of Commerce program to kick-start energy efficiency around the state named 39 projects, from LED lighting in La Crescent to solar panel systems analysis for dairy farmers in west-central Minnesota, in its latest round of grant awards.

This economically vibrant city already was considered one of the hottest real estate markets in the state before the Mayo Clinic's $5.6 billion expansion took off in earnest last year with multiple construction projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars.